Trying to figure out what tools I need to make arrows (the absolute minimum)

[Ifrit617]

A couple good rocks will put you in business.

Jon

[CubeGod]

If you were in a survival situation, and did not have the resources to make a decent point, yeah, a fire hardened wood point would be better than nothing.  Myth Busters, are not infallible.  In fact they have made a bunch of statements that are not so.  You have to remember, it is like the so called "Reality" shows, that are not.  Anyway, Like slackbunny, and Joec123able said, there are a lot more variables to consider in the difference between an animal, and a block of Ballistic Gelatin.  Wood points, won't normally go through ribs.  They don't cause large amounts of bleeding.  And with either wood or stone, shot placement is key.  The ten per cent data is very flawed.  Now as to your original question, what do you need as far as bare minimum?  Like Buckeye Guy said, a strong will, etc.  But you can get by with a knife, and stick with a hole, or notch, and your knee, or a piece of limb.  These will be used to straighten the shafts, after heating them over a bed of coals.  But if you have a heat gun, that works quite well.  Just be sure to watch how hot you get the shaft.  You don't want to scorch the shaft.  You want to move the shaft back and forth in the area you want to straighten, and then straighten that section, and then move on to the next.  If you are using boo, or cane, straighten between the nodes first, then the nodes, but be careful with the nodes, go gently with them.  But basically, a knife, a stick with a notch, or hole, for bending crooks, and a limb, or knee for bending out curves in the shaft, and a knife to scrape, and cut the notch for the point, and the nock.  Ok, don't knap, or don't want to use stone points, make trade points, or buy commercial points.  Or even make bone points, they are better than plain wood points.  That is pretty much all you need to make shafts.  Fletching, well feathers, sharp knife, or scissors, if you have them, sinew, or fine upholstery thread, unwaxed dental floss, etc. , pitch glue, super glue, model glue, etc.  Wrap a layer of thread, sinew, etc. just below the nock, and just behind the point, if you are using trade points, etc. where you cut a notch to accept it.  These wraps should be about 3/4 of an inch to an inch in length from the notch, and about the same from the nock.  You want sufficient wrapping to help prevent splitting. Also smear, and smooth the glue over the wraps.  If you are putting a trade point, or stone, you want check the alignment of the point.  You can place the point on a flat surface, table, piece of wood, your hand, etc, and spin the arrow, and see if it wobbles.  If so, realign the point.  Welcome to Arrow Smithing 101.   There are a lot of postings here on PA, and You Tube.  Getting info, and pictures and video is not a problem.   Good luck.

Thanks! That and the last few replies before you should be enough info


As for the discussion about the mythbusters test, that test was flawed but if you take a look at
this
which isn't written by the mythbusters that does test with caribou hide covered ballistics gel, specifically this passage

The target, ballistic gel molded in the shape of a human torso, was used to simulate body
tissue and was draped with caribou hide for half of the shots to more accurately simulate
animal prey

That is from the pdf linked in my original reply that showed some of my research on the subject and fyi it isn't made by the mythbusters (Although they had part in it), this is made by:

Nicole M. Waguespack¹
Todd A. Surovell¹
Allen Denoyer²
Alice Dallow³
Adam Savage³
Jamie Hyneman³
Dan Tapster<sup>3

1</sup>Department of Anthropology, University of Wyoming, 1000 East University Avenue, Laramie, WY 82071, USA
²Desert Archaeology Inc., 3975 North Tucson Blvd., Tucson, AZ 85716, USA
³Mythbusters, Beyond Productions, 109 Reserve Rd, Artarmon, NSW 2064, Australia

You should specifically have a look at:

Table 2. Arrow attributes and experimental results.

You can quickly find it by navigating to the page linked above and using ctrl-f to search for the sentence
I took myself the liberty of calculating the average penetration for each test
Ballistics gel, wood points: 2.128571*² (212.8571) mm
Ballistics gel, stone points: 2.348571*² (234.8571) mm
22 mm more penetration, which is ~10% more penetration.

Ballistics gel with rawhide, wood points: 2.061428*² (206.1428) mm
Ballistics gel with rawhide, stone points: 2.245714*² (224.5714) mm
18 mm more penetration also ~10% more penetration.

Yes, stone points would cause more bleeding but a penetration factor of 20+ centimeters is surely enough for an instant kill, isn't it? (given that the arrow placement is good, that is)

[Slackbunny]

I still wouldn't say that the wooden point would be acceptable (or legal in most places) for anything but small game even with the 20cm or more of penetration. With the bigger game I think you really want that rapid bleeding for a humane kill.

Could you kill a deer-sized animal with a wooden point? Yes, I imagine with good shot placement you could. But ethically, I would not attempt it.

If you're hunting rabbits, grouse and the like, go ahead with wooden points (after checking your area's regulations on it), but even if you are going up a size to turkey or coyotes, you really should be using an actual broadhead in my opinion. Not because wooden points can't get it done, but because in general broadheads do it quicker and more effectively.

[CubeGod]

Ah yes, you do have a point about that

[Greebe]

I would say that more importantly then penetration is the size of the wound cavity.  A pointed wooden shaft will penetrate deeply but it does not make much in the way of a wound cavity.  Plus the arrow will plug the hole it makes, thus negating the wound  because there will be little to no bleeding.  I had seen this many times working in the ER.  People would come in with objects stuck through various parts of their bodies and usually there was minimal bleeding if the object was still intact.  This is why you are told not to yank things out of your body, because an object such as a pointed arrow is acting as a plug and once it comes out then the bleeding starts.

The arrow head serves to create a larger wound cavity thus increase bleeding, and this is what causes quick killing of game.  Since we want our game to die humanly and as quickly as possible a stone or steel point is what we want.  Then we are not spending hours looking for wounded game.

As far as fletching goes you should look up some of the styles that the American Indian used.  While you do find fletching that used split feathers you often see forms such as the Apache arrows where two whole feathers were tied on either side of the shaft, AKA "two feather fletching".  This is a simple and effective way to fletch and arrow quickly and it works pretty well.  That might be the way to go.

Greebe